With mobile accounting for 37% of all online retail sales, you really can’t afford to provide your customers with a substandard quality of mobile website.
Brands are improving the quality of their mobile sites at a rampant pace, resulting in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
But, there are still many things mobile Internet sites are getting wrong. Let’s take a look at some of the UX issues, preventing users from staying on your mobile site, long enough to make those all important purchases.
1) Mobile sites that don’t allow you to view the desktop site.
You always need to give your users the option of reverting back to the desktop version of your site, so that they can see all the website’s features in their original formats. Traditionally a mobile version of your website will offer consumers a layout that is scaled down, often featuring slight variations on the original desktop layout. Users may be more used to the features on your desktop site and therefore become slightly put off by the new format that you are offering.
2) Pop-ups. Avoid these like the plague. Pop-ups are incredibly unwanted by consumers, who are viewing your content on small mobile screens. They clutter what is already a small limited amount of space, upon which to view vital information.
3) Lack of payment options. You need to ensure that you give your users as many options as possible to make their purchases. One of the reasons for Amazon’s colossal success on mobile, is the fact that they allow their customers to select saved payment information, at the checkout stage. The fields are automatically populated with a consumer’s previous payment and billing info, allowing users to complete their sales far quicker. You should also offer PayPal as a payment option, as this can often be the preferred option, amongst mobile shoppers.
4) Make sure your links and calls to action, are clearly laid out and instantly detectable. There should be enough space between the links, to ensure that users don’t accidentally press or click the wrong ones, as this can obviously lead to frustration and early drop off rates.
5) Page load speed is so important. It is paramount on any eCommerce platform, but arguably more so when it comes to mobile. Think about it, shoppers increasingly turn to their mobiles when they are bored and want to fill in time. The last thing they want is for their boredom relievers i.e., their phones, to turn out to be tedious, slow loading, bore-fests.
Limit your page size and strip out any unnecessary content and then provided your users have sufficient 3G, you should be able to deliver for them, a fast loading website.
6) Badly designed checkouts are a real conversion-killer. Checkouts can be a massive barrier in mobile commerce, and poorly designed checkouts can be a real conversion killer.
Ensure your site doesn’t switch back to the desktop version at this vital stage and double-check your links are all working.
7) Google’s Mobile Movement Study found that 61% of mobile users would call a company after a local business search. Why not make it easy for them to get in touch with your call centers or head offices, by including a click to call button. After all, mobile users by definition will have a phone in their hands.
Including a large, well-positioned click to call button, will allow for users to get in touch with you and who knows, you may be able to convert that sale over the phone. Many of those who will be calling you, will be the sorts of users that prefer more human contact, when making a purchase. A voice on the end of the phone may be just what those users need to put their technophobia at ease and might encourage them to make that purchase.
Mobile is only going to increase in popularity, optimise your site now and get in ahead of your competitors and you are sure to increase your sales.
